Stranger Than You Expected
by My Purple Skies
Summary: Lydia's friend, Amber always heard her talk about BeetleJuice, but this was the first time she'd ever seen him. Not only that, but he's now taken her and Lydia to the Neither Worlds! It seems like fun until a darkness begins to hunt them down.
1. Chapter 1

**(This started out as a role play with a friend of mine and then it turned into something bigger. This story is only 50% mine and the rest belongs to my friend. I was only responsible for the character Amber {who is not Amber from Welcome to the MadHouse. I just like the name Amber.} My friend has been making the art for this story and you can find her on deviantart as PhantasmShadow. You really should look up the comic she's doing! I hope you like this story; it really was just for kicks and I thought we should put it on fanfiction. I have permission from her to post this, so I guess I just have to say that I do not own BeetleJuice!)**

Chapter One

"I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack!" Amber sang out as she entered through the door of the Deetzs' family home.

The sound of Delia Deetz, Lydia's step-mother, rang out musically from the living room. "Lydia; your friend's here!"

Amber poked her head into the living room to see Delia working on another one of her weird sculptors. At the moment it looked like some kind of mutated spaghetti spazzing out. Delia nodded 'hello'. "She's upstairs in her room," she told Amber.

"Thanks Mrs. Deetz," Amber said and headed for the wooden staircase. She quickly clambered up the steps and took a hard right, using her hand to grab onto the stair post and pushed against it to give her more speed. Amber didn't even bother knocking on the door, she just turned the knob and burst in.

"Greetings Earthling!" she cried, cheerfully.

A figure was curled up in bed and pulled the covers over their head. "UUuugh...,"they grunted.

"Whoa... What was that; a caveman trying to communicate?"

The lump of human under the sheets shifted positions but didn't emerge. "Ha ha; very funny."

Amber moved towards the large canopy bed and plopped down at the foot of the bed. "I try to be."

The girl underneath the sheets still didn't come out of hiding.

"Lydia Deetz, show your face," Amber joked while trying to poke at the lump under the sheets.

Lydia groaned and tucked even further into herself. "Nooooo."

"This just goes to show you that you shouldn't stay up all night trying to take photographs."

"It wasn't all night."

"What time did you get to bed?"

"… Around three…"

"I rest my case."

Lydia let out another little groan and a pale hand slipped out from under the covers. It made a shooing motion at Amber. "Away with you; must rest. Must be prepared."

Amber quirked an eyebrow. "Prepared for what?"

Lydia finally stuck her head out from under the blankets; her black hair was messy and all over the place. She stared up at Amber as she said, "For BJ."

Amber sat straight up and pulled herself onto the bed to be right next to her friend. "He's coming," she asked uncertain she'd heard right.

Lydia yawned and nodded. "Yep; I promised him that I'd spend some time with him today."

"And instead of resting up like any relatively normal person would, you had to go out and be a night owl." Amber pretended to give her a wild applause. "Oh brilliant, Sherlock," she cheered sarcastically. Lydia threw the covers over Amber's head. Amber's head made little motions of looking from side to side and casually said, "Hey look, it's night time already."

Lydia giggled and helped Amber tug the blankets off her head. Lydia sighed and lifted herself from the bed; her black, messy hair covering her eyes, and partially her face. She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment and fell back on the bed. She looked up at Amber and sighed. "Should I get dressed?" Before Amber could answer, she got up. "No matter, I'm getting dressed anyways."

She walked to her dresser and picked out a black and red mini skirt. A cat call was heard from the mirror behind her. She turned around and sighed. "Hello, Beetle Juice."

The Ghost smiled and pressed his nose hard against the mirror. "Two more and I'll...," he looked to see a surprised Amber, still sitting on the bed. "Hey…Babes..," he motioned Lydia to come a little closer.

"What?" She sat down in front of the mirror, and leaned closer.

BeetleJuice scowled and pointed to the girl. "Who's that?"

Lydia glanced at Amber. "Oh, that's Amber. She's my friend."

The Ghost looked suspicious of the girl. Lydia smiled. "It's okay, she's cool." She got up from the mirror and walked towards the bathroom.

"WAIT, WAIT! Where are you going?" BeetleJuice yelled.

Lydia turned around. "I'm going to get dressed."

"Aren't you going to call me out first?"

"No. Not before I get dressed."

BeetleJuice pouted. "Can't you stay in that cute little gown for a little longer?"

"I said no. I'll be right back." And with that Lydia disappeared into the bathroom.

Beej pouted a little longer before looking at Amber again. "What are you looking at?" he asked in his gruffish voice.

Amber gaped at the Ghost in the mirror. "Y-you're real?"

The Ghost chuckled and lit a cigarette. "What do you think, Sherlock?" He blew out the smoke which escaped through the mirror and billowed out, filling the room.

Amber coughed and waved the smoke from her face. "I thought...I thought that…"

"What; that Lyds was making it up?"

"Well… sort of…" Amber got up and moved towards the mirror, her green eyes wide with shock and awe.

The Ghost sat up straight. "You thought wrong."

Amber took her time to study him. He was deathly pale, an ironic choice of words but he was, and he had a head full of wild, long, yellowish white hair that he didn't seem to take care of. He was dressed in a black and white striped suit with a black tie and black boots that had a bit of dirt covering them. In fact, he himself looked like he had just dug himself out of his own grave from the patches of dirt and grim that covered his skin and clothes. His face was a bit harder to describe. The teeth were greenish yellow and a bit crooked, and there were dark shadows around his eyes. His eyes seemed to be a complicated mixture of green and yellow with flecks of brown thrown in at random. If eyes were windows into the 'soul' so to speak, then this ghost was nothing but mischief and insanity.

Amber was shaken from her thoughts when Lydia walked through the door and called the ghost out. "BeetleJuice, BeetleJuice, BeetleJuice!"

Amber watched as the Ghost was in the mirror one moment and then in the next, he was standing right next to her. "Hi; how ya doin'?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

Amber yelped and jumped nearly a foot in the air at his sudden appearance and bumped into Lydia. "Lydia!" Amber cried and wrapped her arms around the girl's neck. "He's in the house!"

Lydia giggled and gently pried her arms away from her neck. "I can see that," she said good naturedly.

"Boy, she's bright isn't she?" BeetleJuice snorted out a laugh as his head began to glow like a light bulb.

Amber's eyes grew as big as saucers and her mouth hung open. Lydia had forgotten to mention that he could do that. In fact, Lydia had purposely failed to mention how great his powers were so as not to frighten Amber.

"Okay, BJ; stop showing off." Lydia went up to him and pulled a string attached to his head, making the light click off.

BeetleJuice pouted and began to float a few inches off the ground with his hands stuck inside his white and black striped suit. "Ah geez, Lyds, what's the point in being a ghost if you can't have any fun with it?" he whined.

"She's not used to you like I am."

Amber was still staring with wide eyes at the ghostly being in front of her. BeetleJuice glanced over at her and back at Lydia. "She does blink, right?" he asked.

Lydia looked at Amber and snapped her fingers in the girl's face. "Amber!"

"Wha?" Amber shook her head and slowly got out of her daze. "Sorry, it's just that…he's not just a story anymore…he's, he's, _real."_

"I'm as real as it gets, kid," BeetleJuice boasted loudly while floating higher in the air. Lydia rolled her eyes. "Well, Babes, let's get going!" He flew down to Lydia's level, his feet never touching the ground, and grabbed her by the hand. Lydia was lifted from the floor and she grinned.

"Where are you two gonna go?" Amber asked curiously.

"To the Neither Worlds! That's where BJ lives…so to speak; we go there all the time. It's a lot of fun," Lydia explained.

Amber's smile faltered for just a split second before recovering. "I better get going and let you to be." She turned and shoved her hands into her jeans pockets as she walked to the door.

"What are your plans for the day, Amber?"

Amber paused and faced them, shrugging. "I don't have any plans for the day. I'll probably…uh…read or something."

"Sounds boring," BeetleJuice replied, examining the dirt under his fingernails.

Amber pursed her lips at him but decided to ignore his comment. "It keeps me entertained. Bye ya'll."

BeetleJuice suddenly burst out laughing. He hugged his middle as he rolled head over heels in the air. "She said 'bye **ya'll**,' Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha *snort snort* ha ha! You didn't tell me you had a redneck for a friend, Babes!"

Amber's cheeks burned from embaressment. She had moved from Alabama to New England not very long ago and she had been made fun of by Claire Brooster at the all-girls school just because she had a _very _slight country accent that decided to peek out every now and then.

"I'm not a redneck!"

"Riiight," BJ teased. Amber stuck her tongue out at him and turned to go.

"Wait a second, Amber," Lydia called. She floated back down to the floor and stood next to Amber. "Why don't you come along?"

"**What?!" **Beej cried.

"Oh come on, Beej; it could be fun! You'd have someone new to show the Neither Worlds to. Remember how much fun it was for you the first time you showed me around? I don't want to leave Amber all by herself with nothing to do."

Beej sat on an invisible chair of air and crossed one leg over the other with his arms folded over his chest. His eyes were closed as he tossed his head up, nose in the air. "Nuh-uh."

"Pleeeeeaaase, BeetleJuice," Lydia begged.

"Nope."

"BeetleJuice."

Beej quickly looked down at her and motioned for her to stop. "Hey, nah-ah-ah-ah! Don't say my name again!"

"Either we take Amber with us or I'm not coming with you."

Beej frowned and folded his arms again; his body slowly began to turn as he floated over to Amber. By the time he got near her, he was looking at Amber upside down. "I hope you're happy," he grumbled at her. Amber tried her best to hide the smile that wanted to show itself and managed to succeed. "Alright then! We'll take her along," Beej huffed, straightening to be right side up.

Amber received an excited hug from Lydia. "This is gonna be great," she squealed.

Amber and Lydia's feet started to rise from the floor. Amber gave a yelp of surprise and heard Beej chuckle. "We're off," Beej announced.

"Where will we go first, Beej?" Lydia asked.

"To My Place; just say those magic B words!"

"BeetleJuice, BeetleJuice, BeetleJuice!"

Amber blinked and suddenly her surroundings changed from inside Lydia's room to a place that was something for more complex than her own imagination could create. They were standing outside of a bulding that had a sign that read, 'BJ's Road House'.

Amber blinked and turned around in circles a few times to look at what surrounded her. "Uh…What just happened?"

Beej cackled wildly and threw his hands out in front of him like a showman displaying an item. "You Just Got Zapped to the Neither Worlds, Girl!"

**(Tell me what you think! Leave some reviews! Check out PhantasmShadow on deviantart! What are you waiting for people? Review! … Please? )**


	2. Chapter 2

**(Hello again to those of you who decided to keep reading this story; and for that I and my friend are very grateful! We hope that you enjoy this next installment and again, I urge you to go take a look at her deviantart channel. There will be some familiar characters in this next chapter to those of you who know the cartoon series. One of them may be a little out of character because…well…his personality was a bit too much so we had it toned down a bit for Beej's sake and everyone else's. These characters do not belong to me, except for Amber.)**

Chapter Two

Amber swallowed and looked around, moving in towards Lydia. "Uh…Lydia? Should I be scared?" She latched onto Lydia's arm.

Lydia laughed. "No."

Amber gaped at the strange things around her…or lack thereof. The building they stood by was bluish blackish, with strange architecture. There was a huge blinking sign held up by a gorilla that read, BJ'S ROADHOUSE. Its car port was slanted and strangely placed in the front of the house where there was a garage to the side of it. It was perched on a high island of land and surrounded by nothing but air except for a path that led out to a street and a few strange looking neighbor houses. The street went past these houses and twisted into the most nauseating shapes and rose and fell at unbelievable heights, like a roller coaster's tracks.

Beej clapped his hands together once and faced both of the girls. "So, shall I give her a tour of the Road House or show her the town first?"

Lydia grinned at him. She knew BeetleJuice wouldn't admit it but she could see he was excited with the prospect of showing this strange world to someone who'd never been there before. "Show her the Neither World."

"Great! Let's show ya around, kid."

BeetleJuice extended his elbow to Lydia and she hooked her arm through his, while grabbing Amber by the hand. BJ snapped his fingers and the landscape once again changed.

"Now, just look around and tell me what you see."

"I see, uuuuh..." Amber's sentence was left unfinished when she found that she couldn't find any words to describe what she was seeing.

Creatures of all sorts were walking around; ghosts, zombies, skeletons, ghouls, vampires, and other things that left her wide-eyed. A few of them were eyeing her with curiosity and one vampire winked at her. One glare from BeetleJuice made him think twice about approaching and he left Amber alone.

The buildings were all shapes and sizes; bent and twisted at odd angles that normal buildings would not be able to handle.

Amber's heart beat began to pick up from the shock. Lydia noticed her friend's breathing had quickened and she pulled at BJ's sleeve.

"Beej, we need to get her somewhere a little bit more isolated so she can adjust."

BJ looked at Amber and scoffed. "Tender foot," he muttered and once again snapped his fingers.

They appeared in a park that was not very occupied. At least no one was in the area that they were at.

Amber bent over with her hands on her knees and took in deep breaths. "Oh…my…gosh…," she wheezed.

"You okay?" Lydia asked.

Amber waved a hand at her. "I'm fine. I'm good. It's just… they're all … dead…or living but … _dead_." Amber shook her head and straightened up. She just couldn't seem to describe how she felt at the moment so she decided to let the subject go.

"Well, if it's too much for you, we could go back home," Lydia offered.

"But Babes!" BeetleJuice whined.

"I'm fine. I can handle it," Amber insisted.

Beej grinned and began to turn so he could lead the way out of the park. His eyes caught sight of something up ahead and his hair stood on end. "GAH!" he screamed.

Lydia and Amber flinched at his outburst.

"What is it, BJ?" Lydia asked.

"Oh... Oh no...There's my brother...Uh, quick!" Beej proceeded to push Amber out of sight, ignoring the fact that he was coming close to pushing her off her feet and making her trip. "Hide in the bushes or something; just don't let him see you!"

"Why? Is he bad tempered or something?"

"No! Nothing like that! It's worse; he's, he's too-."

"Hi, Brother," came an overly excited voice with a hint of a southern accent.

Beej let out a screech and shoved Amber into the bushes, completely unconcerned that she fell into the foliage instead of crouching. Beej stood in front of the bush and glared at his brother. "Donny… Go. Away."

"But I just wanted to see how you were doin'. Lydia! Nice to see ya again; it's been awhile."

"Hello, Donny."

Amber sat up, trying not to make the leaves move too much as she did, and peeked out through the twigs at BeetleJuice's brother. She expected him to be just as dirty and rude as BJ and probably … She finally got a good look at him and felt her eyebrow quirk up. He was the complete OPPOSITE of BeetleJuice.

Donny Juice was clean in appearance, with a tailored brown suit and dark brown shoes to go with it. His hair, ash blond like BeetleJuice, was slightly slicked back but was beginning to escape from its previous style and had started to have a few strands fall across his eyes. His eyes were also brown, apparently a family trait, but they weren't wild and crazed like BJ; they were warm and friendly.

"Why are you two standing like that?" Donny asked.

"Like what? What are you talking about? We're not standing in any way in particular, are we, Lyds?"

"Nope; we're just standing around."

"Well, it looks to me that you're trying to hide that bush."

"You're imagining things, Donny; there's no bush behind us."

Amber felt a sneeze coming on and pinched her nose. The sensation passed and she gave a silent sigh of relief. Then she felt something crawling up her arm and looked down to see a strange bug creature with scorpion like pinchers and spider legs making its way up her forearm. She gave a surprised yell and jumped up to her feet, taking most of the bush with her as she ran off.

"So you're saying that the nonexistent bush behind you isn't running right now?" Donny asked with amusement.

Beej and Lydia both raised their eyebrows and turned to look. They saw the bush had seemingly grown legs and was now running blindly around like it was being chased by something.

"Well, that's strange even to me," Beej muttered.

The three watched as the 'bush' ran straight into a lamp post and fall onto its 'back'.

"Amber!" Lydia squealed and rushed over to the pile of leaves.

"Amber?" Donny asked with confusion.

Beej rolled his eyes. "Way to go, Babes. Ya ruined it."

Lydia ignored him as she helped the bush sit up and removed the twigs that surrounded her friend. Amber rubbed her forehead and looked up at the metal pole she'd run into. "Geez, that smarts," she mumbled.

Donny's eyes widened. "It's a girl!" he cried with even more confusion and surprise.

"Brilliant, Sherlock," Beej said moodily and floated over to Lydia and Amber, not waiting for his brother.

"It was some freaky lookin' bug crawling up my arm," Amber said to BJ and Lydia, explaining her sudden take off.

Donny hurried over and waited until Lydia helped Amber to her feet before he spoke. He chuckled and Amber turned her attention to him, embarrassed that someone else had been a witness to the episode.

BeetleJuice groaned and slapped a palm to his face when he noticed Donny had joined the group.

Lydia nudged him. "You need to introduce your brother."

Beej didn't remove his hand from his face, so his reply came back muffled. "He can do it himself."

Donny turned to BeetleJuice and tapped him on the shoulder. "Brother?"

BJ sighed and took his hand away from his face. "Whaaat?"

"Can you PLEASE introduce your friend to me?"

Beej cocked an eyebrow, eyeing his younger brother. He knew that Donny was usually eager to meet new people and get to know them, but Donny seemed a little more eager than usual; if that was at all possible.

"She can introduce herself; _then_ I'll introduce you," Beej replied stubbornly.

Amber sighed with frustration at the Ghost with the Most. "Such a gentleman, making the lady introduce herself." She turned to face Donny and extended her hand out to him. "I'm Amber; Lydia's friend."

Donny cleared his throat and placed his hand in her own, smiling and revealing clean, straight, teeth. "Hello! I'm Donny Juice; it's good to meet a friend of Lydia's," Donny said.

She gripped his pale hand and he pumped it enthusiastically. Amber definitely had him pegged as a people person.

Hearing him speak made her suddenly became self-conscious of her own slight southern accent and tried her best to cover it up. It embarrassed her to no end whenever it slipped out and made her sound like a ditzy southern girl who thought buffalo wings actually came from buffalos with wings.

"So who's the younger and who's the elder brother?"

"Why, BeetleJuice is older. I could never handle all of those responsibilities like he does."

"Responsibilities? Beej?" He didn't exactly strike Amber as a responsible ghost.

"Uuugh. Why can't you just go away?" Beej whined.

"What's with him?" Amber asked Lydia.

"He doesn't really like his brother because he's such a complete opposite of himself. Beej can't stand it."

Beej pretended to shoot himself in the head, complete with sound effects.

"Plus there's… other reasons…" Lydia let her sentence drift off, exchanging a glance with Donny. He looked away, turning his gaze to the grass below his feet.

"What reasons?" Amber asked.

Donny looked up and grinned. "Say, is this your first time here in the Neither World?"

Amber quirked an eyebrow at the way they had avoided answering her question. "Uh, yeah; it is."

"Would you mind if I came along with ya and help Beej show you around?"

"NO!" Beej yelled.

Lydia elbowed him in the ribs. "Be nice, BJ."

"Nice?" Beej stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Bleh! Don't say that word around me, Babes."

"I'm fine with having him join us," Amber said.

Heck, Donny could hang out if he wanted to. He wasn't like BeetleJuice at all, so that made him pleasant company in her book.

Donny's grin widened and he looked back at BJ. "How about it, brother?" he asked.

Beej's bottom lip stuck out as he pouted moodily. He forced the words out of his mouth. "Gr, I guess so."

"Thanks, BJ," Donny said cheerfully.

Beej shuddered and shook himself like he was trying to shake off an unwanted presence.

Lydia moved to grab Amber's arm. "Now, there are a few things you need to know, Amber. The Living aren't exactly allowed here, so you need a dead name."

"A dead name?" Amber looked at the three of them for an explanation.

Donny stepped in to explain. "Let's see, BeetleJuice would be my brother's dead name if his human name were to be Benjamin Geuse. So Amber would be... Heck, I dunno... Hmmm... any suggestions, Beej? Lydia?"

"Bloodless Betty," Lydia offered.

Beej snickered. "Because she's southern, right? HA HA!"

Lydia elbowed Beej. "Stop being mean!"

Amber ignored the jab made by BJ and kept thinking. "How about... Uh... Hmmm. This is tough. Um. Is it reaaaally important that I have a dead name? I mean, would anyone really notice?"

Beej laughed. "It's really easy to tell if you're dead or not. I'm taking a chance leaving you out here in the open. Hey! I have an idea! How about we just make you look dead?"

"Make me look dead?" Amber's expression took on a look of uncertainty. "And how do we do that?"

Lydia giggled. "I know what you're thinking, but we're not going to kill you. Beej just snaps his fingers and you look dead."

Amber's ears turned red from embarrassment that Lydia had guessed right about her concerns. "I wasn't thinking that! I just, I, uh, I...," she stopped talking and sighed as if defeated. "Okay," she extended both arms out to her sides, "Deadify me."

BeetleJuice pointed at her and a blue flash of lightening shot out of his finger tip and struck her. Amber gasped in surprise and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt sort of dizzy, but strangely...alive? No. She was dead. It was like adrenaline was coursing through her veins. Her hands felt tingly and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

The sensation was gone just as quickly as it came and she felt …different.

BeetleJuice clapped and cackled. "Viola! The new you!"

Amber remained with her eyes tightly closed. "I'm afraid to open my eyes!"

Lydia laughed and hugged Amber excitedly. "You look so cool! Open your eyes!"

She cautiously opened one green eye and looked down at Lydia. "Got a mirror?"

BeetleJuice produced one from the air and handed it over to her. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for the gruesome image she was sure she'd find staring back at her. Instead, she found no strange deformities, no ghastly scars or peeling flesh, no exposed bones, just a very pale face with dark shadows around her eyes. Her lips were a purplish blue and her hair was completely white, not ashy or snowy, just plain, unblemished white. Her fingernails were a very deep purple that looked almost black.

She touched her fingertips to her lips, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her hands moved from her mouth to her cheek, feeling to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. It was real.

Amber's gaze lowered down from the reflection and realized her clothes had changed as well to fit her appearance. Instead of the red T-shirt and blue jeans she'd been wearing, she now had on a sleeveless purple and black striped shirt that exposed her midriff. Her jeans were replaced with black short shorts and her tennis shoes had been transformed into black boots that stopped at her knees. Her hands were covered with long, purple fingerless gloves.

Her first reaction when she saw the clothes was that she jumped and nearly dropped the mirror, but it vanished from whence it came.

Lydia's face expressed some concern. "What's wrong? You don't like it?"

"Uh... It's not what I'm used to," Amber said as she wrapped both arms around her middle to cover up as much skin as possible.

Donny couldn't help but smile at the girl's modesty. It was kinda…cute.

Beej laughed uproariously. "Listen kid, when you die, or are made to look dead, it takes what is opposite of you, and brings it out. See, before I was dead, I was quiet, ugly, and had no sense of humor. Plus I was clean." He shuddered.

Amber wrapped her arms tighter around her belly, clearly uncomfortable. "So when I die, I don't mind showing some skin?"

She lifted a hand and grabbed a strand of her hair to get a better look at it. It felt a little unnerving to see her in such strange coloring.

BeetleJuice chuckled at her freaked out expression. "Yeah. Anyways, let's introduce you to the rest of the Neither World." He turned on his heel and started to walk to the street.

He put his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle. The loud roar of an engine was heard and a yellow car without a roof suddenly zoomed towards them and stopped in front of Beej. The vehicle was as crazy looking as the other creatures. It had big eyes at the front where the head lights would have been and sported a giant, smiling mouth instead or a grill.

"Voila!" BJ cried.

"Oh! Here's Doomie!" Lydia giggled and patted the car on the hood. "Doomie, I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is Amber; Amber, this is Doomie. Say hi, Doomie!"

Doomie honked.

Amber gave a limp wave. "Uh… hi."

The car, Doomie, smiled and the door to the back seat opened by itself.

Lydia smiled and nudged Amber. "Aw! He wants you to sit down!"

Beej plopped down in the front seat and held the steering wheel with one hand as he twisted around to look at Lydia, Donny, and Amber. "HEY, BABES! We should show Amber here what Doomie does when he's excited!"

Lydia instantly went serious and shook her head. "Do you remember what happened the last time we showed someone that? My dad still can't get in the family car without having a panic attack!" She got in the front passenger seat.

"Aaaah, come on! It would be funny!"

"Brother, Lydia said no," Donny told him as he scooted into the back seat of the car with Amber.

"Who asked you?" Beej growled.

"We're not gonna do that to Amber. She still isn't used to everything yet."

"But, Babes!"

"No, BJ!"

Beej snapped his fingers in disappointment. "Ah, shucks."

"What does Doomie do?" Amber asked out of curiosity.

Beej snorted like a child not getting his way. "Well, I COULD show you, but apparently someone is too chicken."

Lydia stuck her tongue out at Beej. She turned in her seat to look at Amber and Donny. "Whenever Doomie sees a dog or a cat, he goes crazy and gets all furry and stuff. It's freaky! I mean, _really_ freaky."

Amber's mouth formed a silent 'ah' and left the subject alone.

It was becoming a little too quiet in the vehicle, so Donny tried to get the conversation started again. He leaned back in his seat and rest his elbow on the window ledge. "Did ya hear that Mayor Maynot has put out a restraining order on you, Beej?"

Beej's head whipped around to look at his brother. "Whaaaat?" he whined. "That's not fair! How am I supposed to have fun with him if he won't let me pull anymore pranks on him?"

Lydia smirked. "It's not like you ever paid any attention to things like restraining orders before, Beej. Remember those first few months when I moved into my house and after that little 'incident' with the sand worm? Hm? Remember when I had Juno write up a restraining order on you? Did you obey that order?"

Beej grinned cheesily at her. "Nope. But look at where we are now. We wouldn't be like this if I was stupid enough to actually listen to those restraining orders."

"What incident?"

Both turned their heads to look at Amber.

"Uuuuh," Lydia stalled. She'd never really told Amber the whole story of how she had meet BeetleJuice. "I'll tell you later."

Donny watched a slight flicker of annoyance show up in Amber's eyes. If he had to guess, he'd say that Lydia and Beej had been avoiding some of Amber's questions throughout the time they'd arrived in the Neither World.

She folded her arms and looked out from the car. "What did you do to the Mayor, Beej?"

Beej's lips pulled back into a mischievous smirk. "Weeell, I don't exactly have the_ best_ of reputations; ya get what I mean? The last prank I pulled on the mayor must have brought on this restraining order."

"What was the prank?"

"I put gila monsters in his water."

Amber paused in the middle of adjusting her gloves. "Gila monsters?"

"Heh, heh, heh; yeah." Beej turned down a street with a sharp turn.

Amber was thrown off balance and ended up slamming into Donny, nearly ending up in his lap. "Sorry," she apologized, pulling herself back up to an upright position.

"You're fine," Donny told her, trying to help her back up.

Beej kept talking as if he hadn't almost thrown everyone out of the car. "He was giving a speech on who knows what, slime rates or somethin'. Anyways, I snuck behind his podium and put gila monsters in the water next to him. Heh, heh; so you can imagine how he acted when he took a drink. It was like hearing some lady opera singer let out a bad note! Gah, ha, ha, ha!" Beej sobered up and looked a little nervous as he spoke the next part, "He said next time I pulled a prank like that on him I'd be sent on a silver platter to some hungry Sand Worms."

"What's so bad about sand worms?"

"You don't understand, kid! These aren't just ordinary, two inch long worms! These are monstrous sized worms who would love to eat a handsome guy like me as dinner and finish off with a pretty little thing like you and Lyds for dessert! They ate me once before and I'd like to not repeat that process!"

"You were eaten… by a worm?" Amber couldn't help but snicker at the absurdity of how it sounded. If no one knew that a Sand Worm in the Neither World was huge, then it would sound pretty ridiculous to say you'd been eaten by one.

The snicker wasn't very appreciated by BeetleJuice. He humphed and stared ahead at the road.

They spent about an hour in the car with Beej pointing out some interesting spots and telling Amber about them and Donny telling her some things about events that the Neither World had. Lydia would tell her about some of the adventures she and BJ had gone through.

"And that building over there, is Peeve's Pets," Beej said after finishing off with a corner of street shops.

Lydia felt her stomach growl and she placed a hand over her belly. "Beej, do you think we could stop and get something to eat?"

"What'cha cravin' for, Babes?"

"I don't know; something that will fill me up till dinner."

"I know just the place."

"Beetle's Burgers!"

Beej made the tires squeal as he turned Doomie around in the opposite direction that they had been heading. Once again, Amber was nearly thrown into Donny's lap from the force of the turn. Donny quickly grabbed her by the arms and kept her still until Beej completed the turn.

"Ya almost landed on the floor that time," he joked.

Amber laughed as she sat in her seat and pushed her long hair back over her shoulders. Her hair had always been a bit longer than was usual for most girls to style their hair. It fell about six or seven inches past her shoulders and she normally kept it in a ponytail.

She searched her pockets for a ponytail holder, wondering if the one she had put in her jeans pocket had also been transformed or if it wasn't there anymore. Amber fished out a purple and black striped ponytail holder and began to gather her hair in one hand while stretching the band in the other. She put her hair in a ponytail and was pulling it tight for security when she noticed Donny was watching her. He quickly looked away and began to pick some lent off of his pants leg.

Amber's brow furrowed for a brief second before she moved on and wondered if she should try a little joke on Beej. It was more like an annoying phrase, but she really wanted to say it anyway.

"Are we there yet?"

No response.

"Are we there yet?"

Still no response.

"Are we there yet?"

Beej's grip tightened on the steering wheel and his shoulders seemed to be touching his ears. Donny inconspicuously covered his mouth with his right hand to hide the smile that was sneaking onto his face.

"Are we there yet?"

"GAAAH!"

BeetleJuice changed into an old fashioned looking father figure with slicked back hair, big rimmed glasses, bow tie, tucked in shirt, and loafers. "YOUNG LADY, DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND!"

Amber blinked at Beej's appearance and let out a dramatic fake scream. "AAAAAHHHHH! There's a nerdy guy driving!"

Beej laughed at her outburst and switched back into his striped suit.

Lydia caught Amber looking warily at her white hair. "I'm still having a hard time adjusting. It'll go back to normal, right?"

Beej chuckled sinisterly which earned him an elbow to the ribs from Lydia.

"Don't scare her."

Amber scooted up in her seat to be closer to the driver's seat and she pointed at Beej. A very serious look was on her face but it was obviously meant to be a joke. "Laugh at me like that again when I'm worried; I dare ya," she warned.

"HAW, HAW, HAW! What are you going to do, kill me? I'm already dead."

Amber casually began to examine her purple finger nails. "Lydia, where's the nearest place I can find some sand worms?"

Beej's pale face turned even whiter. "OH PLEASE, PLEASE, DON'T DO THAT! I beg of you!"

Amber smirked as she pretended to think about it for a moment. "Weeeeell... I suppose I could show a little compassion. Ha ha."

Beej's face lite up; literally. "Oh, thank you! Thank you!"

Once again, he wasn't paying attention to the road and almost crashed into a light pole, but jerked on the wheel to avoid impact at the last minute.

"Watch where you're going! You sure are bright arn't ya?" Amber paused when she realized the irony of what she just said and she giggled.

Beej scowled at her through the rearview mirror. "Puns are my thing!"

"Sorry for stealing your thunder."

"Not forgiven."

"But how can puns be your thing; you don't own them."

Beej sighed heavily and leaned back in his seat, hands off of the wheel as he folded one arm over his chest and examined the dirty nails of his other hand. "Kid, you've just got a lot to learn about those kind of things."

"Could you please stop calling me 'kid'? I'm almost twenty."

Beej guffawed and snorted through his nose. "Difficult, isn't she?" he asked Lydia, giving her a side-long glance.

"Not really. She's just frustrated with you; which is completely understandable," Donny said with a bit of a smile.

Amber grinned and motioned at him with her right hand. "At least there's someone on my side." She chuckled and turned her attention toward the passing scenery. The peace was short-lived when Beej made a very sharp turn to the left, nearly clipping another vehicle.

Amber gripped the edge of her seat. "BJ; could you please be a little more careful! You may be dead, but some of us aren't!"

"You could always come live with me if you die! No, wait; I take that back. No you can't. You can be a hobo ghost."

Amber arched her eyebrow in disapproval. "I feel so loved," she muttered.

"Whatever; we're here," Beej grumbled.

Doomie pulled over to a smallish restaurant that sported a very large sign proclaiming the name of the establishment. Beej and Lydia stepped out of the car and Donny quickly hopped out of his seat and over the side of the car. He hurried over to Amber's side and opened the door for her.

Amber's hand had been in mid-reach for the door handle when it was opened and she stayed in that position for a few seconds, staring at Donny with a bit of surprise.

"Um, thank you, Donny."

Donny grinned as she got out of the car and followed her over to Lydia and Beej. He caught BJ gawking at him with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. Donny waited till Lydia and Amber were a few good paces ahead of them before he shrugged at him. "What; I can't open a door for a girl?" he asked as he walked past his brother.

"It's not the deed that surprises me; you do that kind of stupid stuff all the time, Mr. Goody Two Shoes; it's the speed that you did the deed with."

"I couldn't let her wait for long."

"She was going to open the door herself."

Donny had nothing else to add and shoved his hands into his pants pockets as he kept walking to catch up with the girls.

Just as they entered the restaurant, a loud cry of shock and terror was heard coming from across the other side of the building. Two short, fat police officers ran towards the group and stood in front of them.

"BeetleJuice! The Mayor has a restraining order against you!"

"Psh! Yeah; so?"

"You are violating this restraining order!"

"How? I'm not doing anything."

"Make sure he doesn't come any closer!" shouted a paranoid voice.

Amber looked over the heads of the officers and noticed a medium sized man that was covered in bandages sitting at a table at the very back of the room. He was dressed in a blue suit and wore black shades over his eyes. Amber could just make-out the letters that were on a campaign button he wore on his lapel. 'Mayor'.

"_Oh dear…"_

Amber tapped Beej on the shoulder and he stopped his arguing with the two cops to look at her. "What?" he hissed.

"Does Mayor Maynot resemble something like a mummy?"

"Yeah; why?"

Amber grabbed hold of BJ's face by the chin and directed it in the direction of the mayor. BeetleJuice's eyes landed on him and understanding came. "Ooooooooh."

One of the cops pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Because of your disregard for the order, we're placing you under arrest," the other officer said.

Beej turned to the police with a smile that should have been on the face of a salesman. "Maybe we can discuss this?"

"There's no discussion."

"Hey, look, why don't I uh, just slip by and try talking to Mayor Maynot? This is nothing but a misunderstanding and really bad timing." He grabbed Amber by the arm and tugged her forward with him. "Come on, kid; I'll need ya to help explain things." He tried to scoot by, but one officer pulled out a tazor.

Beej jumped back and put his hands out in front of him. "Whoa, whoa! Come on, guys, let's not get hasty here. All I'm trying to do is show my newly dead friend to the Mayor and explain that I didn't come here to prank him!"

The officers looked at each other then back at the poltergeist. "We don't buy it."

Beej gave a cheesy grin. "Now why would I lie about that?"

All eyes stared at BeetleJuice.

Amber muttered under her breath. "Ding! Ding! Ding! You just won an award for Most Stupid Question Asked!"

Beej looked like he was going to slap her. "I heard that," he growled.

Amber felt her face flush and looked away. Her gaze fell on the guards and she waved at them. "Uh, hi. I'm the newly dead friend...," she stuttered.

The police men looked at Amber and automatically took off their hats, blushing. "Well, hi there, pretty lady," they greeted.

Amber looked over her shoulder to see who the heck the cops were talking to. Donny pointed at her. "They mean you."

"Wha?"

Lydia pushed herself up to Amber and elbowed her in the side, wearing a girlish grin on her face. "Aw! They got a crush on you," she squealed.

Amber promptly elbowed Lydia back while trying to hide the fact she was blushing as well. "They do not," she whispered.

"Yes, they do," Lydia insisted. She leaned in towards Amber, studying her face. Her brown eyes widened and her smile grew bigger. "Are you blushing? AWW!"

Amber turned her head away from Lydia. "No! No, I am not!"

BeetleJuice stood there with a dumbfounded look on his pale face. "Are you kidding me?" he muttered.

Lydia hugged Amber and squeezed hard. "Yes you are!"

BeetleJuice's jaw dropped. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"

"Shut up! I happen to blush easily when people call me things like that, okay? Big deal!"

Donny lifted an eyebrow at that bit of news.

Meanwhile, BeetleJuice had tried to sneak away from the cops since they were distracted by Amber. Unfortunately he was noticed by the mayor. "BeetleJuice is escaping!" he shrieked.

The guards turned and Beej got a tazor to the back.

"GAAAAH!"

He fell flat on his face, groaning.

Donny, Amber and Lydia winced all at once.

Lydia kneeled down and put a hand on Beej's back. "Are you okay?"

Beej let out a long groan as he lifted his head from off the floor. "Uuugh. Do I **look** okay?"

Lydia angrily looked up at the guards. "You didn't have to do that!"

The guards all of the sudden looked really surprised. "It's BeetleJuice! He deserves it!"

Amber's face took on a look of disbelief. "So? You should be ashamed of yourselves! He wasn't armed!"

The guards folded their arms. "You mean you'll actually stand up for him?"

"... Maybe..."

The two guards stared down at her. "Did he bribe you?"

"No! Honest!"

The cops simply walked over to BeetleJuice and hauled him to his feet.

"Oh, look at the pretty stars, Lyds," Beej said, still a little out of it from the shock of the tazor.

When the police placed the handcuffs on him he seemed to snap out of his stupor.

"Hey; wait a second!" he yelled in a high pitched voice.

"Wait, you can't arrest him; he had no idea the mayor would be here!" Amber insisted.

"Doesn't matter; he violated the restraining order."

"That's not fair!"

Donny stepped up towards the officers. "Look, if you'll just release him, we'll leave. The little lady is right when she says that Beej had no idea Mayor Maynot was here."

The Mayor had now moved closer to watch the cops arrest BeetleJuice. He held the lapels of his suit as he stared at Donny Juice with an arrogant air. "He would have disrespected the restraint anyway; so we're just carrying out the inevitable outcome, misunderstanding or not."

Lydia tried to pry a cop's hands off of BJ. "Get away from him!"

The cop pushed Lydia aside and helped his partner load BeetleJuice into a police car. Even though the door was closed on him, the words he said were very clear. "GET ME OUTTA HEEEEERE!"

"Officer, _please_!" Amber begged.

"Sorry, ma'am, but we're just carrying out the punishment. Speak to the the man who wants him in jail," the cop said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the mayor.

Amber turned to look at Mayor Maynot just as the officer climbed into the car and it sped off down the street. Amber whirled around to see it vanishing behind a steep hill.

"Oh crap…," Amber muttered.

**(So, what did ya think? Did ya like it? Hate it? If ya hated it then just don't read it anymore; or give it another chance, just don't flame or leave a very rude review. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but jerky bullies are just unappreciated and low. So please leave a review and tell me what you thought. Love you all!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(I am SOOOO Sorry that it's been awhile since I've updated. It's really difficult to keep up with a story when you have college, a job, and a co-writer who lives in a completely different state, thrown into a small mixing bowl. I hope you enjoy this chapter; it's hard to know what you think when you don't leave any reviews… *hint hint*. )**

Chapter Three

"….Crap," Amber muttered. She turned around and faced Mayor Maynot. "Mr. Mayor!"

The mayor finally seemed to take notice of her and looked her up and down. "Have we met before?"

"No, sir."

"No, I didn't think so. I would remember someone who looks like you." The way he said it Amber couldn't tell if it was an insult, a compliment, or a purely stated fact. Probably an insult.

"Look, Mr. Mayor, we both know that this was a complete and honest mistake."

"BeetleJuice hasn't done an honest thing in his life; even with mistakes." Mayor Maynot turned on his heel and reentered the restaurant.

Amber rolled her eyes and followed after him while Donny stayed with Lydia and tried to calm her down.

"Well, there's a first time for everything, sir," Amber said to the mayor as soon as she had walked through the door.

The mayor sighed and kept walking to his table, trying to ignore the persistent young woman who trailed behind him.

"If you could just let him-."

"Ha!" the mayor barked bitterly. "That's not gonna happen young lady."

He sat down at his table along with a man dressed in a tropical explorer outfit. The man's body was huge but resting on his neck was one of the tiniest heads she'd ever seen. It looked like one of those shrunken voodoo heads. Amber's eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight but she didn't let it bother her as much as the fact that Lydia, her _friend, _was upset because this pompous block head wouldn't release BeetleJuice. She was beginning to understand why Beej liked to prank this guy.

"Now if you'll excuse me, Miss…?"

"Amb-… Betty. Bloodless Betty."

"_Beej would be laughing his head off right now,"_ she thought.

"Miss Betty, if you'll excuse me; I have my dinner to eat and I'd like to do this in peace."

Amber bit the inside of her cheek in frustration and held her tongue. "Good day, Mr. Mayor." She promptly turned on her booted heel and began to walk away.

"Don't forget to vote for me in the next election!" Mayor Maynot called out to Amber's retreating back.

Amber's feet froze for a few split seconds. Did he _**really**_ just tell her to _**vote **_for him?! She continued walking and went to find a secluded corner to release some of her held in fury. As soon as Amber found an unoccupied area, she grabbed the top of her head and bent over to let out a silent scream.

"GAAAAAAH!" she yelled, silently. She stomped her booted foot once and straightened up when she felt a little better.

"My, my, _myyyy_; don't we have a temper?" said a smooth, British accent.

Amber's head snapped over to a corner booth positioned in the shadows nearby. Seated at this table was a very tall man, well over six feet; if she had to guess Amber would have said he was seven feet tall. He had spikey black hair that stood far off of his head. His smile stretched from ear to ear and his mouth held teeth that were perfectly straight and _slightly_ yellow. Black circles coated his eyes from his eyebrows to his bottom eye lid.

The man's eye color was something Amber had never seen before. The irises were a startling greyish white that chilled Amber to the core. They practically glowed in the shadows! He wore a long red coat that ended along his calves and a black shirt that was open just enough for anyone to get a look at his chest and see a large scar there, but it wasn't incredibly gory. He was incredibly handsome in an almost aristocratic way, but Amber felt uncomfortable the moment she laid eyes on him.

The man had both elbows on the table and his long fingers linked together with his chin resting on top. His smile became wider and more suave when he saw Amber looking at him.

"Tough luck with the mayor, love?" he asked. Amber stared at him silently, unable to decide if she should speak or not.

"I couldn't help but over hear the whole thing. Caused quite a scene, BeetleJuice did." He gave a deep chuckle that made Amber's skin break out into flesh bumps.

"The mayor was just being unreasonable, that's all," Amber said.

"Mmmmmh," the man replied, sounding as if he were tasting something delicious. _"Suuurely_ the mayor would have tried to help someone in such need? Especially someone who looks as _delicious_ as you."

Amber couldn't stop the color that rushed to her cheeks at his words. The man chuckled again and leaned back in the shadows, picking up a wine glass he had been drinking from and swirled the liquid before taking a quick sip. The entire time his eyes never left Amber.

"I guess the mayor just doesn't make any exceptions," she finally replied.

The man began to make slow circular motions with the tip of his index finger along the rim of the wine glass. "Too bad he wouldn't help you. But that's the mayor for you."

Amber glanced at the wine glass the man was fingering. "I didn't think wine would be served in a place like this," Amber commented with a slight smile.

"Oh they don't," he replied, swallowing a sip he'd just taken. "I just bring my own wine."

He motioned with his empty hand and a small black fog developed in front of him. He waved it away to reveal a new wine bottle in its place, complete with another wine glass. Setting down his own glass, he stretched his long arms out along the booth's back and indicated the empty space next to him. "Care to join me, love? No need for you to stay standing."

Amber felt her skin begin to crawl. The way he wouldn't stop staring at her was completely unnerving and she felt like he was undressing her with those greyish white eyes of his.

"Uh, sorry, I can't. I really need to be getting back with my friends so we can straighten this situation out."

"You can spare a few minutes for a lonely ghoul who's _craving _for some pleasurable company."

Amber gave a nervous laugh and a smile. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be very good company right now."

The man leaned forward, his gaze burning into her. "On the contrary, love, I've found your presence _very _pleasurable."

"I, uh, I…," Amber stuttered. Geez, why couldn't she look away from his eyes?! They were freaking Amber out but at the same time they seemed to be drawing her in.

"It'll only be a moment," he assured her. It looked like he was about to stand from his seat.

The loud crash of something being dropped in the restaurant's kitchen caused both of them to look away from each other. It gave Amber enough time to run away from the man before he could lock eyes with her again. She hurried out of the restaurant and rammed into something solid.

"Oof!"

Two hands gripped Amber by the elbows. She looked up and sighed in relief to see she had run into Donny. Donny gave a pleasant smile.

"I was just coming in to get ya. Lydia and I talked about tryin' to get Beej out of jail on bail."

"Oh, uh, yeah; I suppose we could try that," Amber said as she stepped away from Donny and tucked an escaped strand of hair behind her ear.

Donny looked at her with a little concern. "Amber, are you alright?" he asked, seeing that she seemed a bit shaky.

"I'm fine."

"Which when translated means that she's bothered about something and she refuses to tell you," Lydia said as she made her way over to them.

Donny switched his attention from Lydia to Amber, brow furrowed with concern. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing; just some customer that freaked me out a little."

Donny chuckled and Amber thought it sounded more pleasant than the strange man's chuckle. "You'll get used to the people of the Neither World, just as long as you keep telling yourself that it's not The Land of the Living."

Amber gave a forced, cheery laugh. "Heh, right. I'll keep that in mind."

Donny realized that he was still holding onto Amber and an awkward silence followed. Amber cleared her throat and stepped away, scratching the back of her head.

"So, where would Beej have been taken?"

"NWPD; Neither World Police Department. It's not the first time Beej's ended up in there. He's probably got his own cell by now," Lydia joked.

"Well, we better get over there." Amber stepped over to the street curb and whistled. "Hey, Doomie!"

Doomie quickly zoomed over and braked right in front of Amber. Doomie honked and gave her a big toothy grin.

"Hey, good idea! Now you're catching on!" Lydia said, running over to join Amber and Doomie.

"Hey, I had to have a good idea come into my head at some time or another."

Donny got behind the wheel and Lydia jumped in the back. "You sit with Donny, Amber."

"Bloodless Betty," Amber said, begrudgingly. "I had to call myself that when the Mayor asked for my name.

"Oh, Beej is gonna love that," Lydia giggled.

Amber pointed a pale finger at Lydia, a comically serious look on her face. "Not one word of this to him." She climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up. The door closed by itself, causing Amber to yelp in surprise and yelp again when Doomie suddenly took off down the street.

"It's going to be hard to get him out of jail. He's on the top of the Neither World Most Wanted list," Donny explained to Amber.

"What does this guy do? Wake up in the morning and say, 'Gee, I wonder what I can do to become the most wanted ghost in the Neither World?'"

Donny chuckled. "He's always been a trouble maker. Ever since he died..." Donny trailed off and pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Ever since he died? Oh yeah; death makes you the opposite of what you are, right?" Amber asked.

Donny nodded and kept his eyes on the road. "Right. See, before I died, I was like him and he was like me. I'm proud of who I am now. As for BeetleJuice; I'm not sure. You can never tell what he's thinking."

"So, when you die, you're basically not you?"

"I wouldn't say that. A lot stays the same, but a lot changes as well. It's really hard to explain. It's basically unpredictable; but there is always going to be a drastic change. Something that could make you worse or better than the person you used to be." He gave Amber a sidelong glance and grinned boyishly. "You got that, sugar?"

Amber nodded. "I think so."

Donny turned Doomie into the parking space in front of the Police Department and had hardly parked the car when Lydia bolted out of the vehicle and went straight inside the building.

"Lydia! Wait!" Amber unbuckled her seatbelt and found Doomie had already opened the door for her. "Thanks," she told the car and hurried after Lydia. She caught up with her and followed Lydia to the front desk.

Donny rapped his knuckles on the window that separated them from the receptionist. "Hi, we're here to post bail for BeetleJuice."

The receptionist looked up from her paperwork and eyeballed the gang. Lydia gasped when she recognized Miss Argentina.

The blue skinned woman slid the window open and scoffed. "Oh… great. I thought he was gonna stay here. He's been driving everybody crazy!"

"Miss Argentina? What are you doing here?" Lydia asked. "I thought you were working at Neither World Department of -?"

"Yeah, well, I got transferred here," Miss Argentina explained, impatiently. "Name, please?"

Lydia pushed aside her surprise. "Mary S. Scary."

A loud voice from a room in the back yelled out, "WHAT DOES THE 'S' STAND FOR; SEXY? AWWWOOOOGA!"

Amber felt the need to cover her face with her hand. Lydia simply blushed. Miss Argentina pushed several forms into Donny's hands. "Fill out these forms and the slim ball is yours."

Donny dropped a few of the papers, but snatched them back as they flittered around. "Lydia, Amber; you two go get Beej while I fill these out," Donny said.

Miss Argentina had already lowered her head of red hair back down to the paperwork. "That door," she muttered, pointing without looking.

Lydia and Amber walked through the door and found Beej sitting in between the same two guards that had taken him in. "Babes!" BeetleJuice cooed when he caught sight of Lydia.

"BJ!" Lydia walked up and grabbed him by the ear.

"Aw, babes, it was joke! Ow!"

"An expensive joke! Donny's having to pay your bail!"

"It's not like he's hard pressed for money; sheesh!"

"BJ!"

"Aw! Ouch!"

Amber sucked in her lips to keep from laughing as she watched the two argue. Lydia let go of Beej's ear and frowned. "What do you have to say about yourself?"

Beej grinned cheesily and leaned in towards Lydia. "That I'm devilishly handsome and I have a great sense of humor."

"Don't make me slap you."

"Aw, Babes, don't be mad! Can I say one other thing?"

Lydia folded her arms. "Fine. What?"

"I also have great taste in women."

Lydia's lip curled into a reluctant smile. "Okay; I can't slap you for that."

Beej chuckled and elbowed the guard to his right. "Nice recovery, eh?" he asked, snorting with laughter. The guard didn't answer. Beej shrugged. "Tough crowd."

Soon, Lydia, Amber, Donny, and Beej left the NWPD and walked towards Doomie. Beej gave an exaggerated stretch and let out an obnoxious sigh. "You know, we never did get to eat since Mayor Thorn In His Side kicked us out. How about we show Amber that really 'swingin' restaurant, huh, Babes?" Beej asked, transforming into a swing set.

"You mean The Haunt?" Lydia asked in disbelief.

"Yeah!"

"Uh, Beej, Amber's not exactly the kind who would-."

"Oh come oooon, Babes! She'll love it!"

"Amber's not a clubber!"

Amber's eyes widened. "What? You want to take me to a club?"

Beej slung an arm over Amber's shoulders. "It's not a _club _per say. It's just a lose restaurant. Lots of dancing, open bar, great food."

Amber picked BeetleJuice's arm off of her shoulders. "I think I'll skip out on that."

Beej let out an annoying whine. "You're no fun at all! Babes, how did you end up befriending this loser?"

Amber's eyes flashed. "Fine! Let's go!"

Donny flinched at Amber's answer. "Are, are you sure you want to go?"

"Why not? I'm as hip as anyone else."

Beej grabbed ahold of Lydia's hand and began to pull her to the car. "Alriiiight! Let's go, Babes!"

Amber bit her lip and rubbed her left arm. _"I just did something stupid, didn't I?"_ she asked herself. She looked over at Donny. He smiled and motioned for her to get in the car first.

As soon as they were settled inside the vehicle, Beej put his hands behind his head and lay back in his seat at the wheel.

"To The Haunt, Doomie!"

Doomie gave a happy honk and drove away from the NWPD.

….

When the gang pulled up in front of The Haunt, Amber felt her stomach flip. She wrung her hands nervously. Donny noticed her anxiety and placed his hand over hers. "It'll be okay. If you don't like it, we'll leave."

"Thanks, Donny."

They exited the vehicle and walked up to the entrance.

"You'll get a kick out of this, kid," Beej told Amber just before he opened the restaurant doors. The moment he did, loud, upbeat music poured out and flashing lights could be seen within.

Amber turned to look at Beej. "You said it wasn't a club!"

Beej gave Amber a devilishly toothy grin. "_Per say_." He took hold of Amber by the arm and swung her inside like a tornado before she could get away. He cackled madly and floated in after her.

Lydia and Donny looked at one another. "This may not end well," Lydia said.

Donny nodded. "You may be right."

The two then rushed into the building. Lydia had taken only four steps inside when Amber suddenly came out of nowhere and latched onto her.

"Lydia! I think I just got hit on by a goblin!" Amber screeched.

Lydia gently pried Amber's arms off and gave a comforting smile. "Well, think of it this way; you could have been hit on by something worse."

Amber's green eyes bulged. "There's something worse than a goblin?"

Lydia nodded and began to list various creatures. "Yeah; ya got gremlins, ghouls, swamp monsters, and demo…" Lydia quickly stopped herself before she finished the last one. If she wanted Amber's sanity to still be intact, she couldn't let her know that demons were known to grace the Neither World with their dark presence.

A transparent ghost came up to Lydia and Amber. "Would you like a table for two?" he asked. His voice was like a whisper.

Amber's eyes were fixed on the ghostly apparition and she couldn't speak. Lydia laughed nervously. "Uh, no. Table for four, please."

"This way," the waiter instructed and floated in the direction of a table.

Beej and Donny followed the waiter and Lydia took a step forward, only to be nearly jerked off her feet by Amber when she grabbed Lydia's arm.

"Wait for me!" Amber squeaked.

They were shown to their table and given menus. "Your waiter will be with you shortly," the ghost told the gang and then floated away.

Soon a short, Italian looking man walked over to the table and clapped a decaying hand onto BeetleJuice's shoulder. "Ah; BJ! My best customer!"

Beej flashed a yellow smile. "Bernie!"

Bernie's eyes glanced over everyone's faces and stopped on Amber. "Who's your friend? I haven't seen her around!"

Beej leaned one elbow on the table and gave Amber a mischievous smile. "Introduce yourself, Betty."

Amber sent a glare in Beej's direction. "I'm Bloodless Betty."

Beej snickered. The Italian man shook Amber's whole body with one shake of his hand. "I'm Bernardo! Nice to meet you! Now what would you like? BeetleJuice?"

"The usual."

Bernardo jotted down 'Beetle Burger deluxe, extra beetles.' "Alright. What would you like, Miss Mary Scary?" he asked Lydia.

"Junior Beetle Burger, hold the beetles."

"Mr. Donny?"

"I'm fine."

"And what will it be with you Miss Betty?"

"Uuh… Junior Beetle Burger, hold the beetles."

"Now what would you like to drink? We have: Grape Goop, Banana scream pie shake, zombie puke, and Coca Cola."

Amber restrained herself from gagging. "Oh decisions, decisions, um. I'll take a Coca Cola."

Beej ordered a banana scream pie shake and Lydia ordered zombie puke. While they waited for their food Amber looked around at the restaurant. The lighting was dim, the music was upbeat dance songs, creatures of all kinds were out on the dance floor or at tables or the bar. The dance floor was at a lower level than the dining area. People sitting at tables or the bar could actually look down at the dancers.

Amber rubbed the back of her neck and tried to strike up a conversation. "So, Donny, what do you do for a living... I mean, uh…"

Beej chuckled at Amber's blubbering. Donny nudged his brother with his elbow to get him to stop. "I'm a chiropractor," he answered.

Beej rolled his eyes. "Go figure." Amber frowned at Beej. Beej shrugged and mouthed, "What?"

Amber motioned at him to zip it, and was horrified when her lips turned into a zipper and zipped shut. She let out a muffled scream. "Hey, stop freaking out. People will think you're not from around here," Beej hissed.

"That's because she _isn't _from here, Beej," Lydia snapped, aggravated at Beej's insensitivity.

Bernie showed up at that moment with a tray of food. "Your food has arrived! Eh… Why is your mouth zipped?" he asked, looking at Amber.

Amber quickly unzipped her lips. "Please don't ask."

Bernie shrugged and set the food down on the table. He placed Amber's plate in front of her. "Here's your food, Betty. Enjoy." He was about to walk away but paused and took a harder look at Amber. Amber nearly propelled herself away when she noticed how close Bernie was to her. Bernie squinted one glazed eye as he stared at Amber. "By chance, are you and BeetleJuice related?"

Amber quickly nodded. "Uh, yeah, yeah! Beej and me, we're related alright." She laughed, nervously.

BeetleJuice gave her a thumb up and mouthed, "Smooth."

Bernie snapped his nearly fleshless fingers. "I knew it! I can see a resemblance. Why haven't I seen you before, Betty?"

Amber glanced at Beej for help, but he shrugged. "Uh, I just died."

Bernie nodded, looking over Amber's skin. "I could have guessed. You haven't even started to decay yet."

"Let's dig in!" Beej announced, trying to change the subject and bit into his beetle burger with a loud crunch.

Bernie left the gang alone and Amber spun around to face Beej. "We look alike!?"

BeetleJuice shrugged his shoulders as he inspected a plump beetle in his burger. "Heck if I should know! I personally can't see a resemblance! He needs his eyes checked!"

Amber spoke without realizing her Southern accent was getting stronger. "Dang straight he does! That guy was just plain creepy the way he was lookin' at me!"

Beej slapped down his burger and laughed. "Listen to that accent!" he howled.

Amber blushed red and focused on her food. Beej bite into his burger with another disgusting crunch. "Mmmhmm."

Donny, Lydia, and Amber all gagged.

….

Unknown to the gang, a figure was sitting not so far away, watching them; more specifically, watching _her._ A pair of nearly-white eyes watched. They watched her every move. He didn't have a choice; his gaze was inexplicably drawn towards her. Every little movement did not go unnoticed.

He touched his temple and tried to massage away the ache that had begun to develop. He liked the way the girl laughed. She'd throw back her head and laugh like she didn't have a care in the world. A shiver worked its way down his back and he let out a shaky sigh. There was no doubt about it…he wanted her…_bad._

Two girls came by, their motivations obvious. He simply waved them off, annoyed that they were blocking his view of her. Another time, but not now.

"_The life of an incubus," _he thought, dryly.

An incubus…a demonic spirit that plagued nightmares and disturbed females in their sleep, usually raping them while they slept. There was also the succubus, female versions of the incubus. People in the world of the living had seemed to have forgotten that his kind existed. But the people of the Neither World knew him well. The incubus watched the girl as she ran her fingers through her white hair. Such a pure white… She kept throwing glances around the club, her bright green eyes darting here and there but never landing on him.

"_She's nervous."_

Why was she nervous?

"_Can you sense me staring? Do you feel me watching?" _he wondered.

He finished off his drink and another one followed as he continued to track her. His hands were trembling as he lifted the glass to his lips to quench his thirst, but it did no good for what he really thirsted for.

"_What do those lips taste like?"_

The question made the trembling increase and he almost dropped his glass.

"_Steady boy,"_ he told himself.

Speaking of boys… Donny Juice was with her; looking at her with love sick eyes. And to make things worse, the girl seemed to be enjoying it. A slight blush would creep up on her pale cheeks whenever Donny did something chivalrous for her. Ha! He could think of a few things that he could do to make her blush all over.

BeetleJuice was with them.

His fist clenched at the sight of the ghost. There was another female with them…someone wearing red and black…

"_Lydia?" _

A smile spread along his face. Well, well, well; Lydia. Some memories there.

He swallowed the last of his drink and ordered another. The bartender didn't keep him waiting for very long. He began to sip from his glass, eyeing the girl from over the cup's rim. He took the time to memorize every little detail; the way she talked with her hands, her facial expressions…

The girl dropped her napkin on the floor and he grinned.

"_Go on, love. Lean over and let's have a look," _he thought, eagerly.

His wish wasn't granted. The girl bent over and held a hand over the opening of her shirt, modestly hiding any view of her cleavage. The incubus pounded his fist on the bar, startling the bartender and the drunk who was napping at the next stool. The girl retrieved her napkin and sat back up, smiling at Donny.

"_Go on, keep smiling, love. If only you knew how much frustration you're causing me!" _

He ran a hand through his dark hair and gave a shaky sigh. This was torture! He lifted his glass and paused when he noticed that at the angle he held it, it created the illusion that she was inside his glass. He grinned at this and stared at it for a minute, savoring and relishing the thoughts that came into his mind.

He was so drawn in to the illusion that he quickly downed his drink-drinking her in- and slammed the fragile glass onto the bar. It shattered upon contact. This didn't seem to faze him. His breathing had become ragged and a moan escaped from him.

Ugh! Torture! Complete and utter torture!

…

"How's your burger?" Donny asked Amber.

"It's great! I love it!"

Donny smiled. "Good! At least some one likes Beetle Burgers other than Beej! Have you tried your drink yet? You'll be surprised..." he said mysteriously.

Amber paused in the middle of lifting her burger. She gave him a curious and suspicious smile. "No, I haven't. Why would I be surprised?"

Donny chuckled lightly and grabbed his own drink. "Why don't you answer that yourself?"

Amber raised the cup to her lips and cast him one more curious look before taking a sip. Donny watched her from over the rim of his own drink, waiting to see her reaction. At first nothing happened. Then the coke began to violently fizzle inside her mouth. It didn't burn; it just caused a pleasant tickle.

"Whoa! That isn't what I expected."

Lydia giggled at her friend.

A new song began to play and a ghostly cheer rang out from those on the dance floor. Amber twisted around in her chair to look over the edge of the balcony at the dancers.

"What was that?" she asked, slightly spooked out at the sound.

"Aw come on, kid; haven't you ever cheered when you hear your favorite song on the radio?" Beej said.

Amber's eyebrows lifted. "That was _cheering_?"

"This song has become pretty popular in the Neither World," Donny explained.

"Come on, Lyds! Let's go out and bust a move!" Beej quickly jumped up from the table and pulled Lydia out of her chair.

"How about it, Amber?"

Amber's attention zeroed in on the one who had asked that question; Donny. Her cheeks immediately flushed and her mouth opened and closed a few times as words tried to form.

"I can't dance."

"Oh come on; it's easy."

"No, seriously! I can't dance! The only dancing I do is when I'm home alone and the door is locked and I've got my music blaring! Nobody sees me dance!"

Donny would not be discouraged. "Please dance. You won't look bad."

"She'll be dancing with _you, _Donny," Beej snorted and received an elbow jab from Lydia. "Ouch!"

"Come on, Amber. You can't leave me without a partner," Donny said.

Amber's face crinkled. "Ugh, you had to pull a guilt card on me!"

"The situation called for it."

Amber huffed good-naturedly and placed her hand in Donny's outstretched one. The group headed for the dance floor, not knowing that they were still being watched. ….

He felt himself stiffen when she accepted Donny's offer to dance. Now they were moving to the dance floor and he would soon lose sight of her among the other dancers. Not if he had something to do about it!

He stood up from the bar and calmly strode over to a table occupied by two female spirits. They instantly fixed their eyes on him and smiled invitingly.

"Ladie_sss_… care to dance?"

The women didn't hesitate. They each latched onto his arms and he led them over to where he last saw the girl and her friends dancing. Once he spotted her again, his gaze remained fixed on her, completely ignoring the two women dancing provocatively on him. He was used to that sort of thing. He wanted something fresh.

He watched as she stumbled over her feet and kept apologizing to Donny. Her head hung low as she tried to watch where her feet went.

….

"Geez, I told you I wasn't very good," Amber muttered as she once again stumbled.

Donny chuckled. "It's fine. Though it would probably help," he used the tip of his index finger to hook under her chin and lift up her face. Their eyes met. "… if you didn't look down."

….

The incubus gritted his teeth and looked away long enough to twirl both girls on each arm and pull them back in. After that his attention was snatched back towards Her. He didn't even respond when one of the girls began to lightly trace her finger over his chest.

….

"Just keep looking at me, okay."

"Donny, I'm gonna end up stepping on your feet."

"No you're not; trust me."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Weeeell…" Donny smiled and motioned for her to look down. Amber gasped when she realized that they were hovering four feet from the floor. Amber instinctively clung to the closest thing to her, which happened to be Donny. He chuckled. "You didn't even notice," he said.

"Hey, you two sure are light on your feet!" Beej's familiar voice called as he and Lydia danced their way over. Beej took note of how tightly Amber was clinging to Donny and raised an eyebrow. "Getting kinda cozy there, aren't we?" he chortled.

Amber remembered herself and put some proper distance between them but still held on to Donny's hands so she wouldn't drop to the floor. Donny concealed his disappointment. The song came to an end and Donny slowly floated back to the floor with Amber.

….

As soon as the song ended, the two female spirits wrapped themselves around his body, waiting for him to look at them. He gave them each a brief glance. "Excuse me," he mumbled, and suddenly transformed into a cloud of black fog, slipping from their arms. He appeared in solid form in the DJ's booth and whispered in the ghoul's ear.

"But that's a Land of the Living song," the DJ replied.

"But a bloody good one," the incubus argued with a sly grin.

The DJ shrugged and opened up a dusty drawer and pulled out a disc. "Okay." He turned back around to face the incubus. "Anyone you want to dedicate it to?" But the incubus was gone.

He reappeared right in between the two girls he'd been dancing with. "Now where were we?" he asked, giving them a grin that made both of them giggle madly. The opening notes to the song he'd chosen began to play. The song he'd chosen for Her. The song that very nearly voiced the silent promise he was making to Her.

….

The lights became much dimmer and the next song that came on was surprisingly familiar to Amber.

"_**Everybody's lookin' for love, oh, oh  
>Ain't that the reason you're at this club? Oh, oh<br>You ain't gon' find it dancin' with him, no oh  
>I got a better solution for you, girl, oh, oh."<strong>_

Donny turned to Amber with a lifted eyebrow. "I'm not familiar with this song."

"_**Just leave with me now  
>Say the word and we'll go."<strong>_

Amber blushed and took hold of his sleeve. "Let's sit this one out, okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"_**I'll be your teacher; I'll show you the ropes  
>You'll see a side of love you've never known<br>I can see it going down, going do-wn."**_

"Very sure."

"_**In my head, I see you all over me,  
>In my head, you fu'fill my fantasy<br>In my head, you'll be screamin', ooooh!  
>In my head, it's goin' down<br>In my head, it's goin' down!  
>In my head!"<strong>_

…

Wait! Where was She going? He wanted to watch Her dance to this song! But She was leaving. He wouldn't be able to watch Her at the table from the dance floor. He immediately evaporated, leaving the female spirits for good this time. He took up his place at the bar once more and kept watching Her.

"_**She'll be screamin' out when it all goes down  
>Just leave with me now<br>Say the word and we'll go (we can go)  
>I'll be your teacher; I'll show you the ropes (you the ropes)<br>You'll see a side of love you've never known (never known)  
>I can see it goin' down, we're goin' down<br>In my head, I see you all over me  
>In my head, you fu' fill my fantasy<br>In my head, you'll be screamin' ooooh!  
>In my head, it's goin' down<br>In my head, it's goin' down  
>In my head, I see you all over me<br>In my head, you fu' fill my fantasy  
>In my head, you'll be screamin' out<br>In my head, it's goin' down  
>In my head, it's goin' down<br>In my head!"**_

He took up his drink and made a silent toast to Her. Soon it wouldn't all be in his head.

**(Please, please, please, please, please, leave a review. I've never begged this much for reviews before and I really want to know what you think about this story. Thanks for taking the time to read it. **


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